Rafter



Dec. 25, 1956 w. F. TATE 2,775,324

RAFTER Filed July 2, 1955 United States PatentIO" RAFTER F. Tate, Mineola, N. Y., assignor to R001 Vent Metal Awning Corporationof America, Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 2, 1953,'Serial No. 365,633

1 Claim. (Cl. 189-34) This invention relates to rafters. More particularly the invention relates to bracing rafters which are used for supporting the roofs of large awnings.

The building codes of large cities require that the roof of an awning shall support a specified load. The allmetal awning for ordinary residence windows which are made up of upper and lower channels supported on runners are capable of supporting loads much greater than the specified minimum loads of the codes. However when the outward projection of an awning is more than approximately five feet, or when the awning is more than approximately six feet wide, safe construction requires that the roof runners should have the support of rafters.

Sheet aluminum alloys in a light gauge have been found to be well adapted for the manufacture of metal awnings. The structural members are usually formed by rolling flat sheets, and these members generally have a channel shape with reinforcing ribs and/or flanges extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the member. To facilitate construction and maintain a low manufacturing price, it is desirable to have the minimum number of special shapes and use the same shapes for building all sizes of awnings.

When the areas of the awning roofs become large and heavy loads are to be supported, it is important when using standard shapes of structural members to be able to reinforce the standard shape members in order to have a strength with a high factor of safety for carrying the load.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a standard shape structural member or rafter which can be used for building an awning that can be reinforced quickly to obtain the desired strength without modifying the member or changing the structural design which is normally used.

Another object of the invention is to provide a structural rafter that may be reinforced and strengthened with the use of standard size pipe.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structural awning rafter which can be easily and quickly strengthened and reinforced by snapping a pipe into it while giving the rafter its regular appearance and concealing the pipe.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the reinforced structural roof unit as hereinafter illustrated and described and particularly defined in the appended claim.

The various features of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a reinforced metal rafter embodying the preferred form of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side view of an awning roof showing the application of the improved rafter thereto.

The present structural member has particular application in an awning construction. When the awning is more than approximately five feet in width, and when the overhang of the awning from the supporting wall is more than 2 approximately five feet, it is important to strengthen and reinforce the awning roof with one or more rafters to carry the possible loads which may be placed on the roof, particularly when thereof is covered with snow.

In Fig. '2 is diagrammatically illustrated the manner in which the rafter of the 'presen't'invention is used in awning construction. The-awning is made up of roof members 10 which are in the form of overlapping channels resting-upon cross runners 1 2. The upper ends of the channels 10 are attached at 1 '4'to the wall. When a rafter is used, the rafter 16 is mounted under the runners 12 to support them and prevent the runners from sagging. If the load to be placed on the awningis heavy, then the rafters 16 are reinforced in accordance with the present invention, and braces 18 may extend from the mid portion of the rafters to the wall.

The construction of the structural member or rafter 16 is shown more particularly in Fig. 1. The rafter has a generally U shape with outwardly-extending flanges 20 integral with the side walls 22 of the U-shaped channel. A downwardly-extending rib 24 is formed at the outside of each flange 20 to strengthen and make the channel rigid and resilient.

The reinforcing member of the structural unit consists of a pipe 26 which tightly fits within the channel. The depth of the channel of the rafter is at least equal to the diameter of the pipe 26 so that the flanges 20 of the member 16 will lie in a common plane which is above the top of the pipe when the pipe rests within the channel and touches the bottom of the channel.

Ridges 28 are formed in each of the side walls of the channel near the upper portion thereof, these ridges forming a reinforcing rib in the channel walls. The inner faces of the ridges are spaced apart a distance slightly less than the diameter of the pipe, so that when the pipe is pressed downwardly into the channel, the ridges 28 will resiliently grip the pipe and hold it in fixed position. The ribs 24 and ridges 28 reinforce the channel and add to its resiliency so that considerable pressure is required to force the pipe into the channel and the ridges tightly hold the pipe in the channel.

Referring to Fig. 2, the channel flanges 20 form a flat surface by which the rafters may be connected with the runners. These flanges are usually drilled and the rafter connected to the runners by means of screws which pass through the flanges 20 and a flange of the runner.

In reinforcing the roof of an awning, it is not necessary to have the pipe 26 extend the full length of the rafter in each case. Therefore the pipe may extend through that portion of the rafter that will properly distribute the load that is placed on the roof.

In making up awnings, the U-shaped channel member 16 is made in a standard shape and lengths and is used in all awning construction. The usual channel will receive an inch iron pipe having an outside diameter of about 1% inches for reinforcing. The pipe is a standard product and can be made in any desired lengths and can be easily and quickly placed in the channels for reinforcing purposes.

The preferred form of the invention having been thus described, What is claimed as new is:

For use in a sheet metal awning having roof members and cross runners, a structural rafter member comprising a light sheet metal channel-like member having an outwardly extending flat flange at each of its two top edges providing bearing surfaces for the cross runners and accessible from below the awning for the reception of screws or bolts by which the member flanges are connected to the cross runners, and for reinforcing the rafter member against lateral bending and weaving, each flange having a downwardly turned outer edge to strengthen the flange against vertical deflection and buckling, the side walls of Patented Dec. 25, 1 s

flanges in substantial parallelism with divergent portions 7 extending from the lower boundary of the parallel side wall portions, and convergently from the lower boundary of the divergent wall portions to the bottom wall of the member, the interior of the member being of generally hexagonal form with the top of the hexagon being open, the side walls of said member being laterally resilient and a pipe of circular section inside the member, the diameter of said pipe being greater than the transverse dimension of the open side of the generally hexagonal interior, the adjacent sides of the hexagon being generally tangential along the length of the pipe, said pipe being frictionally retained within the channel of said channe1- p 4 like membenbyits frictional engagement with said resilient side walls, whereby the pipe is effective for reinforcing the member against lateral and vertical deflection and is completely concealed from beneath the member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,093,657 Sisson Apr. 21, 1914 1,141,067 Lloyd May 25, 1915 1,189,208 Hodkinson June 27, 1916 2,503,136 Simpson Apr. 4, 1950 2,573,345 Leedy Oct. 30, 1951 2,577,671 Barrett Dec. 4, 1951 

